IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pbs/ecofin/2024-03.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Debt Attitude and Debt Accumulation among Rural Poor Households in a Developing Region: A Q-squared Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Aswathi Rebecca Asok

    (University of Portsmouth)

  • Joe Cox

    (University of Portsmouth)

Abstract

The relationship between debt attitudes and debt behaviours is a subject of interest for both economists and psychologists alike. Analysing quantitative and qualitative data collected from Kerala, India, this paper contributes to this discourse by examining the extent to which debt attitudes shape the debt behaviours of rural poor households in developing countries; a demographic often overlooked in the current academic discourse surrounding indebtedness. The study observes that the debt attitudes within this demographic are not unidimensional and can be more accurately characterised in terms of general and specific attitudes to debt. Based on a survey encompassing 720 rural poor households, our quantitative analysis indicates that general debt attitudes significantly influence the likelihood of the household having outstanding loans. However, neither general nor specific debt attitudes do not significantly predict the actual amount of debt accumulated by the household. To explore the disconnect between debt attitudes and the magnitude of debt accumulation, qualitative insights derived from in-depth interviews with 21 surveyed households were analysed. Our qualitative exploration uncovers a spectrum of attitudes towards borrowing held by this group, spanning from a strong aversion to favourable inclinations. The analysis identified three plausible explanations for the observed attitude-behaviour disconnect; specifically the inescapable inevitability of borrowing, the dynamic nature of debt attitudes, and debt recycling. From a policy standpoint, our findings suggest that while initiatives targeting debt attitudes could discourage this group’s initial dependency on loans, their effectiveness in curbing subsequent debt accumulation may be limited due to the multifaceted challenges faced by this demographic in their daily lives. Therefore, tackling the issue of excessive household debt among rural poor households in developing countries requires the concurrent formulation of comprehensive policies that address underlying structural issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Aswathi Rebecca Asok & Joe Cox, 2024. "Debt Attitude and Debt Accumulation among Rural Poor Households in a Developing Region: A Q-squared Approach," Working Papers in Economics & Finance 2024-03, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth Business School, Economics and Finance Subject Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:pbs:ecofin:2024-03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.port.ac.uk/EconFinance/PBSEconFin_2024_03.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cäzilia Loibl & Jodi Letkiewicz & Simon McNair & Barbara Summers & Wändi Bruine de Bruin, 2021. "On the association of debt attitudes with socioeconomic characteristics and financial behaviors," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 939-966, September.
    2. Keese, Matthias, 2012. "Who feels constrained by high debt burdens? Subjective vs. objective measures of household debt," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 125-141.
    3. Haultain, Steve & Kemp, Simon & Chernyshenko, Oleksandr S., 2010. "The structure of attitudes to student debt," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 322-330, June.
    4. Sarah Brown & Gaia Garino & Karl Taylor, 2013. "Household Debt And Attitudes Toward Risk," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 59(2), pages 283-304, June.
    5. Townsend, Robert M, 1994. "Risk and Insurance in Village India," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(3), pages 539-591, May.
    6. Lusardi, Annamaria & Tufano, Peter, 2015. "Debt literacy, financial experiences, and overindebtedness," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 332-368, October.
    7. Woldehanna, Tassew & Tafere, Yisak & Yonis, Manex B., 2022. "Social capital as a double-edged sword for sustained poverty escapes in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    8. Michal Bauer & Julie Chytilova & Jonathan Morduch, 2012. "Behavioral Foundations of Microcredit: Experimental and Survey Evidence from Rural India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(2), pages 1118-1139, April.
    9. Harrison, Neil & Agnew, Steve & Serido, Joyce, 2015. "Attitudes to debt among indebted undergraduates: A cross-national exploratory factor analysis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 62-73.
    10. Lea, Stephen E. G. & Webley, Paul & Levine, R. Mark, 1993. "The economic psychology of consumer debt," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 85-119, March.
    11. Akanksha Goel & Shailesh Rastogi, 2021. "Understanding the impact of borrowers' behavioural and psychological traits on credit default: review and conceptual model," Review of Behavioral Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(2), pages 205-223, December.
    12. Ottaviani, Cristina & Vandone, Daniela, 2011. "Impulsivity and household indebtedness: Evidence from real life," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 754-761.
    13. Isabelle Guérin & Marc Roesch & Govidan Venkatasubramanian & Bert D'Espallier, 2012. "Credit from whom and for what? The diversity of borrowing sources and uses in rural southern India," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24, pages 122-137, January.
    14. Richard Disney & John Gathergood, 2011. "Financial Literacy ad Indebtedness: New Evidence for UK Consumers," Discussion Papers 11/05, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).
    15. Łukasz Kurowski, 2021. "Household’s Overindebtedness during the COVID-19 Crisis: The Role of Debt and Financial Literacy," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-19, March.
    16. Achtziger, Anja & Hubert, Marco & Kenning, Peter & Raab, Gerhard & Reisch, Lucia, 2015. "Debt out of control: The links between self-control, compulsive buying, and real debts," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 141-149.
    17. Erin E. George & Mary Eschelbach Hansen & Julie Lyn Routzahn, 2018. "Debt Tolerance, Gender, and the Great Recession," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 711-732, November.
    18. Wang, Lili & Lu, Wei & Malhotra, Naresh K., 2011. "Demographics, attitude, personality and credit card features correlate with credit card debt: A view from China," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 179-193, February.
    19. Mewse, Avril J. & Lea, Stephen E.G. & Wrapson, Wendy, 2010. "First steps out of debt: Attitudes and social identity as predictors of contact by debtors with creditors," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1021-1034, December.
    20. Donnelly, Grant & Iyer, Ravi & Howell, Ryan T., 2012. "The Big Five personality traits, material values, and financial well-being of self-described money managers," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1129-1142.
    21. Lea, Stephen E. G. & Webley, Paul & Walker, Catherine M., 1995. "Psychological factors in consumer debt: Money management, economic socialization, and credit use," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 681-701, December.
    22. Garðarsdóttir, Ragna B. & Dittmar, Helga, 2012. "The relationship of materialism to debt and financial well-being: The case of Iceland’s perceived prosperity," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 471-481.
    23. Vijayendra Rao, 2001. "Poverty and Public Celebrations in Rural India," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 573(1), pages 85-104, January.
    24. Walker, Catherine M., 1996. "Financial management, coping and debt in households under financial strain," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 789-807, December.
    25. Flores, Silvia Amélia Mendonça & Vieira, Kelmara Mendes, 2014. "Propensity toward indebtedness: An analysis using behavioral factors," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 3(C), pages 1-10.
    26. Agarwal, Sumit & Chomsisengphet, Souphala & Liu, Chunlin, 2011. "Consumer bankruptcy and default: The role of individual social capital," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 632-650, August.
    27. Lebdaoui, Hind & Chetioui, Youssef, 2021. "Antecedents of consumer indebtedness in a majority-Muslim country: Assessing the moderating effects of gender and religiosity using PLS-MGA," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cesar Leandro, Julio & Botelho, Delane, 2022. "Consumer over-indebtedness: A review and future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 535-551.
    2. M. Gagarina A. & A. Shantseva A. & М. Гагарина А. & А. Шанцева А., 2017. "Социально-психологические особенности и уровень финансовой грамотности должников // Socio-Psychological Peculiarities and Level of Financial Literacy of Russian Debtors," Review of Business and Economics Studies // Review of Business and Economics Studies, Финансовый Университет // Financial University, vol. 5(2), pages 5-22.
    3. Marco FRIGERIO & Cristina OTTAVIANI & Daniela VANDONE, 2018. "A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Consumer Over-Indebtedness: the Role of Impulsivity," Departmental Working Papers 2018-08, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    4. Meyll, Tobias & Pauls, Thomas, 2019. "The gender gap in over-indebtedness," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    5. Michael Goedde-Menke & Carsten Erner & Michael Oberste, 2017. "Towards more sustainable debt attitudes and behaviors: the importance of basic economic skills," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(5), pages 645-668, July.
    6. Yeniaras, Volkan & Akkemik, K. Ali & Yucel, Eray, 2016. "Re-considering the linkage between the antecedents and consequences of happiness," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 176-191.
    7. Rendall, Stella & Brooks, Chris & Hillenbrand, Carola, 2021. "The impacts of emotions and personality on borrowers’ abilities to manage their debts," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    8. Rogers, Pablo & Rogers, Dany & Securato, José Roberto, 2015. "Sobre variáveis psicológicas em modelos de application scoring," RAE - Revista de Administração de Empresas, FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil), vol. 55(1), January.
    9. Cristina OTTAVIANI & Daniela VANDONE, 2016. "Is Impulsivity a Mediator of the Relationship between Financial Literacy and Debt Decisions?," Departmental Working Papers 2016-06, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    10. Büşra Alma Çallı & Erman Coşkun, 2021. "A Longitudinal Systematic Review of Credit Risk Assessment and Credit Default Predictors," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    11. Lebdaoui, Hind & Chetioui, Youssef, 2021. "Antecedents of consumer indebtedness in a majority-Muslim country: Assessing the moderating effects of gender and religiosity using PLS-MGA," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    12. Mahfuzur Rahman & Nurul Azma & Md. Abdul Kaium Masud & Yusof Ismail, 2020. "Determinants of Indebtedness: Influence of Behavioral and Demographic Factors," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, February.
    13. Maria Forlicz & Tomasz Rolczynski, 2020. "Relationship Between Personal Debt Arrears and Risk Attitude– Cross Country Evidence," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 586-599.
    14. M. Gagarina & T. Goroshnikova & М. Гагарина & Т. Горошникова, 2018. "Психологические факторы стратегий погашения множественных задолженностей // Psychological Factors of Multiple Debt Repayment Strategies," Review of Business and Economics Studies // Review of Business and Economics Studies, Финансовый Университет // Financial University, vol. 6(3), pages 57-64.
    15. Benyan Tan & Yingzhu Guo & Yan Wu, 2024. "The influence and mechanism of female-headed households on household debt risk: empirical evidence from China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    16. Cäzilia Loibl & Jodi Letkiewicz & Simon McNair & Barbara Summers & Wändi Bruine de Bruin, 2021. "On the association of debt attitudes with socioeconomic characteristics and financial behaviors," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 939-966, September.
    17. Brennan, Linda & Zevallos, Zuleyka & Binney, Wayne, 2011. "Vulnerable consumers and debt: Can social marketing assist?," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 203-211.
    18. Stefano Cosma & Francesco Pattarin, 2012. "Attitudes, personality factors and household debt decisions: A study of consumer credit," Centro Studi di Banca e Finanza (CEFIN) (Center for Studies in Banking and Finance) 12021, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    19. Lim, Sung Soo & Bone, Matthew, 2022. "Optimism, debt accumulation, and business growth," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    20. Atte Oksanen & Mikko Aaltonen & Kati Rantala, 2015. "Social Determinants of Debt Problems in a Nordic Welfare State: a Finnish Register-Based Study," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 229-246, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Attitudes towards debt; Household indebtedness; Kerala; Rural poor households;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East
    • R29 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Other
    • R51 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Finance in Urban and Rural Economies
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pbs:ecofin:2024-03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Shuonan Zhang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/depbsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.